Course Details

Advanced Legal Writing (LLM)

In this course, international LLM students will gain further practice and skill in developing effective legal writing and research techniques for a U.S. legal audience, with a focus on persuasive writing and advocacy, including memoranda, emails, letters, and contracts. Students will draft a short email memo and a contract, and they will research and draft a trial brief. During the research process, the student will summarize and report on his or her progress to the professor. The student will also draft a client letter in connection with the brief, and will complete a Multistate Performance Test-like final assignment, which will help all students who intend to sit for the bar examination in New York or another state. Class Materials: Thornton, U.S. Legal Reasoning, Writing, and Practice for International Lawyers (2014); The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (20th ed. 2015); and additional materials to be downloaded from Canvas. Prerequisite: Common Law Reasoning.
Registration Requirements
Prerequisite: Common Law Reasoning.
Evaluation Methods
The professor will evaluate your written work and provide detailed comments on it. You will also be evaluated on your presentation to the professor of your research results in preparation for writing the trial brief.
Class Materials
Thornton, U.S. Legal Reasoning, Writing, and Practice for International Lawyers (2014); The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (20th ed. 2015); and additional materials to be downloaded from Canvas.